Throw rugs that are formed with a circular or dromic (race course-like) pattern have been known in the art for many years. Their relative ease of manufacture, as well as their familiar appearance, has made them commonplace in modern households.
However, their construction leads to serious deficiencies in durability, comfort, feel, and appearance. In general, these rugs have been produced by folding a strip of fabric around a filler that has been laid along the strip's longitudinal axis. When the two lateral edges of the strip meet, they are sewn together, leaving a small exposed seam. After sewing a significant portion of a strip, a filled tube is produced that can be coiled into the shape of the desired rug. The adjacent tubes are then sewn together with a single stitch at the point of tangential contact between the tubes.
The end product of this method of production is a rug that has the look and feel of a series of adjacent tubes. The individual tubes generally retain their tubular shape, leaving deep valleys between adjacent tubes. These valleys produce spaces between tubes at the upper surface of the rugs that permit easy insertion of objects, such as heels of shoes, that eventually cause adjacent tubes to spread apart, giving the rug a ragged look. The peaks and valleys also make the rug less comfortable for any person that might choose to lie or step on it.
An alternative known method for producing the tubes is to sew a long tube without a filler inside it. Once completed, the entire tube can be manually inverted while a filler is manually inserted into the tube. However, this is a highly labor-intensive operation that adds a significant cost to the rug production, with only a minimal increase in quality.